Hard to swallow...
The news this month that an effective male equivalent to the contraceptive pill may be just around the corner will be very welcome to those men for whom the 'snip' is a looming alternative. For some reason, even the thought of a sharp instrument in the vicinity of that part of their anatomy can turn grown men pale and queasy. But perhaps they are right to be alarmed: a vasectomy can seriously damage your health - or at least stop you getting to work on time.
In London, a discussion of the details of the procedure brought part of the London Underground system to a halt when a trainee driver either fainted or was sick or both when his two senior colleagues ignored his request to change the subject. Thousands of passengers were delayed by what they were told was a 'defective train', while the unfortunate trainee was taken to hospital with head and chest injuries after falling from the cab of the train that was travelling at 24km/h.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world a 39 year-old Brazilian farmer who went to the doctor with earache underwent a vasectomy instead because he misheard the name called out by staff. It seems he didn't think anything was odd when the doctor began prepping his testicles for surgery, assuming that the inflammation had spread there from his ears. Valdemar Lopes de Moraes, who has two children, has apparently not asked for the operation to be reversed. Whether Aldemar Aparecido Rodrigues, who was scheduled for the snip, is now walking around with perfect hearing but believing himself to be sterile is not known.
Even better news is that it may now be possible to carry out a vasectomy without the use of invasive surgery. Scientists in the US have employed ultrasound to block the vas deferens, rather than the cutting and sealing technique currently used. The tissue is effectively 'cooked' by a pulse of ultrasound, but without burning the skin.
Given a choice of being carved or cooked, most men would have little difficulty in making a decision, I feel.